I’m leaving The Seattle Times. I’m also leaving journalism, at least for the next phase of my career.

I am going to work for Vulcan, Inc., the company founded and led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. I will be doing media relations for the company.

It’s an exciting change for me. It’s also a huge change. I’ve been a reporter since 1982. That’s the year I left my work as a restaurant cook to be a radio reporter. The job with Vulcan is the first non-journalism job I’ve applied for since those restaurant days.

I will have more to say later. But for now, I want to thank The Seattle Times for all the great opportunities I’ve had during the past 14 years. It really has been great. The paper and I part on only the best of terms.